


maybe heroes have dark sides

by orphan_account



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-02
Updated: 2013-12-02
Packaged: 2018-01-03 07:34:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>jaune spills some coffee. everything else is also an accident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	maybe heroes have dark sides

**Author's Note:**

> for day one of the week, although ao3 was down yesterday so it's up a day late. i was a bit scared when the generator gave me these two, but i've always loved a challenge. no capital letters here.

jaune meets her in a cafe while he’s bussing tables - filling in for a friend, because even though he’s not a hero, it’s the heroic thing to do, helping someone out. more specifically, he meets her because he picks up her coffee mug to refill it, his hand slips, and he more or less dumps the entire coffee pot on her head.

his mouth opens and he tries to apologize and ask if she’s okay and beg for forgiveness all at once, meaning he just stutters out confused syllables and tries to remember how to breathe. it doesn’t help that the woman in front of him is gorgeous. like,  _really_  gorgeous.

"i can pay for the dry cleaning," he blurts out and almost slaps himself because that’s not what he meant to say, but her mouth curves up into a smile. _  
_

"my hero," she drawls, and wow, he’s never seen black hair so shiny, he’s never seen such a low-cut combat dress and the red makes her look like an inferno, and he’s almost afraid to be standing so close to her, "but i can pay for it myself."

"are you- i can- pay for the coffee?" jaune tries.

she laughs softly, dark and melodic, and he wonders if it’s possible to fall in love with someone you dumped coffee on. “how about you take a break and sit with me?”

"y-yeah," jaune stutters. he’s drunk off the attention and he barely remembers to look down before he sits - a lucky break, because there’d be no chair beneath him. he pulls up a chair and slumps over. "so. uh. sorry," he says, rather lamely in his opinion.

she waves it off. “i’ve gotten worse stains out of this before, you have nothing to worry about. you’re not a regular busboy, are you?”

"is it that obvious?" he huffs out a laugh. "nah, a buddy of mine needed a day off to work on school applications and i told him i’d help out."

"school? as in, regular college?"

jaune shakes his head. “beacon,” he says, and tries not to sound bitter.

he fails. she narrows her eyes. “a little jealous, are you?”

"i-" he sighs. "yeah, i am. i always wanted to be a hunter, but, i mean-" he gestures at her and her coffee-ness. he’s probably blushing but he doesn’t care. "i can’t carry a coffee pot, how can i carry a sword?"

"hmm." she takes a drink from her coffee cup, eyeing him. "ever thought about cheating your way in?"

jaune jerks back violently.  _"what?"_  he demands, although he knows he heard her properly. “no, i couldn’t- i want to do it right- how could i-” he could fake the records, he’s smart enough for it even though he doesn’t look it, he could just mock up some grades and have it done,  _what is he thinking he can’t get into beacon like this._

the woman smirks across from him, and jaune is afraid of her and her brilliance. “you got a name, kid?”

"jaune," he answers, mind spinning. he’s seen the beacon application so many times he knows exactly what he’d need. it’d be so easy, so easy, he’s a hero, he can’t, it’d be so easy.

"jaune," she repeats. she rolls to her feet, high heels clicking on the ground as she stands. "well, jaune, i’m cinder. i’ll be looking out for you."

"yeah," jaune murmurs dazedly. it’d be so easy, he thinks, and he barely registers it as cinder laughs and walks away. who is this woman, he thinks, who would suggest this?

and who is he, to even consider it?


End file.
